Matt Damon for Human Factor

June 4, 2008

Damon signs on to Freeman, Eastwood film.

Matt Damon has signed on to star in Clint Eastwoord’s‘ Human Factor’.

Damon will play rugby star Francois Pienaar, who created, with Nelson Mandela, an event that gave whites and blacks in South Africa a common cause to rally around as the country was trying to heal from the wounds of apartheid.The Anthony Peckham-scripted drama is an adaptation of John Carlin’s book “The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Changed the World.”

Mandela, freed from 27 years in prison and elected president, decided to get behind South Africa’s Springboks team when the country was selected as host country for the 1985 Rugby World Cup. The Springboks had been banned from international competition because of the country’s apartheid practices.

The majority of blacks viewed the team as a symbol of exclusion, but they rooted along with white countrymen as the Springboks won in overtime against New Zealand to capture the Cup. Pienaar was the Springboks captain who developed a relationship with Mandela during the team’s run.

Morgan Freeman will also star in the project, due to start shooting early next year in South Africa.

EXTRAs:Damon wrapped the untitled Paul Greengrass-directed drama based on ‘Imperial Life in Emerald City,’ and he’s currently starring for Steven Soderbergh in ‘The Informant’. He plans to rest up in the fall and make ‘Human Factor’ his next starring role.